Police: 10 children rescued from squalor; most were tortured 'for sadistic purposes'

Police: 10 children rescued from squalor; most were tortured 'for sadistic purposes'

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Updated: 5:30 AM EDT May 15, 2018

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WEBVTT ARE SAID TO BE IMPROVING. IDA ROGERS ALLOWED CAMERAS INTO HER HOME AFTER FAIRFIELD POLICE RELEASED TROUBLING CLAIMS ABOUT WHAT WAS HAPPENING BEHIND CLOSED DOORS WITH HER 10 CHILDREN, ALL HOMESCHOOLED. THE OLDEST WAS 12, THE YOUNGEST FOUR MONTHS. >> THE CHILDREN DESCRIBED INCIDENTS OF INTENTIONAL ABUSE RESULTING IN PUNCTURE WOUNDS, BURNS, BRUISING, AND INJURIES CONSISTENT WITH BEING SHOT WITH A PELLET GUN. REPORTER: THIS AFTERNOON, POLICE ALSO DESCRIBED WHAT THEY CALLED HORRIBLE LIVING CONDITIONS, FROM DEBRIS TO FECES. >> SO BASED UPON WHAT THE CHILDREN STATED DURING THEIR INTERVIEWS, WE BELIEVE THAT TORTURE OCCURRED. >> SO ALL THIS HAPPENED, I DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE GOING OFF OF. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE EVIDENCES. REPORTER: ROGERS SPOKE CANDIDLY ABOUT THE STATE OF HER HOME, AND THE DAY HER 12-YEAR-OLD DISAPPEARED, WHICH PROBABLY LAW ENFORCEMENT TO LOOK CLOSER AT THE FAMILY. >> I LOOKED EVERYWHERE, I MOVED EVERYTHING OUT OF THE CLOSET, TOPPLED OVER THE BEDS, I LOOKED OVER EVERY INCH OF THAT HOUSE, THEN I REALIZED, OH, MY GOD, MY SON IS GONE. REPORTER: THAT WAS MARCH 31. THE CHILD WAS FOUND, AND POLICE QUICKLY ARRESTED RODGERS FOR CHILD NEGLECT. WHILE SHE POSTED BAIL, HER HUSBAND, THE FATHER OF THE YOUNGEST EIGHT KIDS, IS NOW IN JAIL FOR SEVERAL COUNTS OF FELONY TORTURE AND CHILD ABUSE. >> CPS LOOKS HIM UP AND DOWN AND SAYS THERE’S NO SIGN OF ABUSE OR NEGLECT, SO WHY A MONTH LATER ARE YOU KICKING MY DOOR DOWN AND ARRESTING MY HUSBAND ON THESE HORRIBLE ALLEGATIONS? REPORTER: CLOSE NEIGHBORS SAY THEY RARELY SAW THE COUPLE, AND NEVER EVEN KNEW THEY HAD KIDS. >> EVERY TIME I SEE THE GUY, HE WOULD JUST WAVE AND THAT’S IT. I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW THEY HAD KIDS.

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Police: 10 children rescued from squalor; most were tortured 'for sadistic purposes'

A Northern California woman denied that she or her husband abused their 10 children after authorities said the kids suffered puncture wounds, burns, bruising and injuries consistent with being shot with a pellet gun.

The children, ages 4 months to 12 years, were removed from their home March 31 after Ina Rogers contacted authorities to report that her oldest child was missing, police in Fairfield said Monday.

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Officers went to the home 46 miles northeast of San Francisco and found filthy conditions, Lt. Greg Hurlbut said.

“Officers located unsafe and unsanitary living conditions including garbage and spoiled food on the floor, animal and human feces and a large amount of debris making areas of the house unpassable,” he said.

Authorities described injuries to the children, including some that appeared to have been caused by a pellet gun.

The father, 29-year-old Jonathan Allen, was arrested Friday after the children were interviewed. He has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of torture and nine counts of felony child abuse and was being held on $5.2 million bail.

The children did not require medical attention when they were removed, but stories about abuse came out gradually over the past six weeks and eight of the children told professionals about incidents dating back several years, authorities said.

Sharon Henry, chief deputy district attorney for Solano County, said she was “horrified” by the statements from the children and that torture was carried out in the house “for sadistic purposes.” She declined to elaborate.

“It literally breaks your heart, and you’re outraged by how a parent or anyone could commit those acts,” Henry said.

Rogers, 30, was arrested on suspicion of neglect last month and released after posting $10,000 bail.

She denied Monday her husband had abused the children.

“There’s no broken bones, there is no major scars, nothing,” Rogers told reporters in front of her house. “My kids get bumped and bruised and scratched because they’re kids but that’s it.”

Rogers gave journalists a tour of the house, a four-bedroom home with scuffed walls and animal feces in the bathroom.

Rogers said the children slept in one bedroom because they were close; cots were stored in a bedroom closet. The other rooms were used as a master bedroom, playroom and meditation room.

On the day the children were removed, the house was messy because she had just torn it apart looking for her missing son, who was angry because his parents had taken away his tablet computer, Rogers said.

Rogers said she feels the family is being judged for having so many children and choosing to home-school them.

"I don’t have much money because I have 10 children. I am going to try and get a lawyer and get the best defense for my husband. People just need to look into it. Take my kids to the doctor alone, and all of these torture allegations will fall away.” Rogers said, according to KCRA. “Because there (are) no broken bones. There (are) no scars. Nothing ... My kids have bumps and scratches. But that’s it.”

She offered her children a message, via news cameras:

"I know this time is scary. And I know you don’t know what’s going on. But you will understand and people will know that you were loved," Rogers said. “Babies if you see this, your mommy loves you. Every day I am working for you, OK.”

She and her husband both came from broken homes and they wanted a large family, Rogers said.

Child protection officials made one prior visit to the home several years ago, Rogers said. She did not say why.

Rogers said she works the graveyard shift as an EKG technician at a heart monitoring company and her husband is a tattoo artist.

Aleida Quartman, 23, who described herself as Rogers’ co-worker, said the mother spoiled her children.

The messy house was just life with children, cats, a dog and fish, Quartman said.

“She told me she’s never lived alone and now that her kids are gone and her husband is gone, she’s just a mess,” Quartman said.

Peggy Allen, the mother of Jonathan Allen, said she had talked to Rogers about the importance of keeping a clean house.

She is estranged from her son and he has kept his family away from the children, she said.

“We’re a Christian family and Jonathan has not been raised that way,” she said.

Neighbor Larry Magnaye said he had no idea there were 10 children living in the house across the street.

The parents would wave when leaving the driveway, but he never saw the children in the yard or heard them playing in the backyard pool.

“It’s a pretty big house,” Magnaye said. “But I don’t know how you can keep it quiet when you have 10 kids. I can’t keep it quiet with one, two you know?”